About a month ago, the NY Times printed a fascinating article about the now infamous tension growing between Google and Apple.
Apple has claimed that Google stole ideas and concepts from the iPhone to fuel Android’s success. Not only that, but Google’s presence on the iPhone may continue to be a liability.

Since Google is the default search engine for the iPhone, they can collect data on the search habits of users. This means they’ll know what iPhone users search for, what they want and what they like, and even know where they do it using Google Maps. This, according to sources, can give Google a competitive edge to use that data and create solutions before Apple can.

The solution? Remove Google from the iPhone.
There has been speculation that Apple will consider using Microsoft’s Bing, since they offer a competitive search and mapping engine to Google. Oh, the irony!
Once upon a time (back in the glorious Bill Gates days of Microsoft), one of the big reasons Apple and Google became allies was to rise up against monopolistic companies such as Microsoft. However, it was immediately apparent that there is a considerable difference in their philosophies. Google is famous for being open and pushing for standards, whereas Apple has always pushed for proprietary and closed models to protect their user experience. The only way these two could possibly work together was to unite against a common enemy. However, what happens when your ally appears to be more of an enemy than your common one? Partner with the “other” enemy?

All this has been met with a considerable amount of speculation from analysts and fanboys alike.
There is a second, more far-fetched theory however. According to Business Insider, top Apple analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray says that there is a 70% chance Apple will create their own search engine in the next 5 years.
That’s a bold prediction. Does anyone think this would be a good idea? I mean, Apple has ZERO experience in search engines, and the market has evolved so much, it would be kind of late for a newcomer to enter the area. Even if Apple makes their own search default, why wouldn’t users just switch to the familiar Google to do their searching (just as a majority of Windows users don’t use the default Bing)?

Unless… Perhaps Apple is really so driven to keep Google off the platform that they actually actively BLOCK access to it.
Would Apple do that? I would like to say no, but then again this is the same company who enforces the rigidly ruled App store. Apple is all about control, and I’m not sure I can say this is beneath them. On top of that, what if Apple decides to enforce a similar set of rules to filter your web searches?
Apple has famously denied App submissions as harmless as a dictionary due to objectionable content (curse words included in the definitions). Can you imagine a search engine that only showed you results pre-approved by Apple?

Ok, perhaps that is going too far. Apple can not be that controlling, can they?

My personal opinion in all this?
Let it go, Mr. Jobs. Competition is good, as we all know, since it drives innovation and keeps technology affordable. Stop being so defensive about your products and go back to innovating like the Apple days of old. I miss the Apple of the 1980’s.

Yesterday Sprint announced that they too will carry the Google Nexus One. This makes it one of the few smartphones you can get on all 4 US networks with no real variation (and maybe the only one that’s not a Blackberry). There’s no announced date and price, so we’re going to have to wait and see.

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In case you haven’t been paying attention to the mountains of coverage, Google has announced the “real” GooglePhone, the NexusOne. A Snapdragon sporting, AMOLED adorned, Android 2.1 touched smartphone, the NexusOne is taking the tech sites by storm. Several people have asked me my thoughts on the new phone, and I decided to put them here.

Well, after the break anyway.
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It’s interesting how married to Operating Systems people can become. My first computer was an Apple IIGS, but then we swiftly moved to Windows. I used to join in deriding Macs, then I got one. Mac OS, especially 10 and up, became my OS of choice. However, I still used Windows (and occasionally Linux) on a daily basis. I’m basically platform agnostic. A platform is a tool, and the one that works best for you is the best… for you. There is no perfect platform for everyone, for computer or phone.

I mention this because of discussions I’ve been having with some fellow techies. This week I finally broke down and bought a Pre. The reactions from my iPhone, WindowsMobile and Blackberry using friends (Sort of sad, but I don’t personally know a single Android user – no I’ve never met Justin) were almost comical in their predictability. I even got complaints about the Pre from a fellow Pre owner… because he’s really a Blackberry user. I’m not saying they’re wrong – I’m just saying the Pre is closer to my “ideal” phone than most of those other options (In fact, I recalled a doodle I drew ten years ago and it resembles the Pre to the point of scariness).

Every phone does its job in one way or another and every phone does it for someone. The cell market is really big enough for everyone. So how about we all just calm down and let people find the right solution?

So, why is the Pre my “perfect phone” (so far, anyway?)? Click the read link and find out.

[Warning – this thing is a fricking essay. I clearly have no life.]
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While the HTC Hero and Palm Pre have been shown to not work on SERO, this writer was able to log onto the SERO web site and select a Moment without any sort of flag. This is very different from what happens when you select a Pre or a Hero – when one does so, the site flags it and tells you one must change one’s plan.

I’ll be spending my lunch break tomorrow testing this theory at a local Sprint store, but I just wanted to throw that out there.

it would seem to make for an interesting corroboration of Mordy’s theory that Sprint is making exclusive OSes (WebOS, Android+SenseUI), and making them require one set of plans, while having “generic” OSes (Palm OS, BB, WinMo) work on any plan.

Oh and side note: Has anyone tried a Samsung Intrepid? For Sprint’s first WinMo 6.5 device, the internet has been stunningly sent.

UPDATE: Looks like the answer is a resounding “no”. A long conversation with a reliable source has shown that yes, you can order the Moment, but it won’t activate. In some ways, that’s even more annoying than just not being able to order the thing. Teases. -Morts 11/4

As Morts already mentioned, with the new Verizon Droid launch, Google has announced a new mobile maps feature: Navigation.

No, I’m not talking about using Google Maps to calculate driving directions on your phone. I mean real bona-fide location aware turn-by-turn spoken directions that rival and even surpass the features of high-end standalone GPS navigation units.
Using your phone instead of a standard GPS navigation system on your phone isn’t new- Old-school smartphone owners (Palm & Windows Mobile) have had access to commercial software from Garmin and Tom Tom for years. If you don’t want to store maps on your phone, or just have a simple feature phone, many carriers licensed Telenav software for a nominal charge to your bill.

What’s interesting here, however, is that Google is offering this for free. From Verizon. Yeah. Verizon is OK with letting Google give you something without them getting paid for it.
This really could be the start of a new Verizon.
The question is, will Google make this available for other GPS-enabled platforms as well? What about the iPhone or Windows Mobile? Or even Blackberry?

Now, before I sound too excited and ahead of myself, let’s not forget that Bing! mobile does this as well, and is also offered for free (as long as you have unlimited data) on some smartphone platforms such as Windows Mobile. Bing even offers a similar voice-recognition feature for speaking your destination. However, the interface is harder to navigate and it doesn’t speak the directions as it follows you. It looks like Google has taken all the good of Bing’s navigation features, and combined it with everything good in a standalone navigation package, and slapped on some killer features that only Google can get away with for free.

The question on my mind, however, is whether or not Google will be releasing this for all the other mobile platforms that currently have Google Maps supported. Remember all the fuss and delays Tom Tom had trying to push the iPhone navigation package?

Imagine for a moment that Google releases their nav system for iPhone, for free, before Tom Tom can break even on their sales. Wow. Talk about game changer.

Full Google press release here.

UPDATE: According to Engadgetmobile.com, Tom Tom and Garmin stock prices are plummeting!

Holy cow, what a week. Every time Mordy or I sat down to write a post, something else happened. I’m going to try to condense it all into one week, going by topic. Bear with me:
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So, turns out our initial rumor sources were true… The InstinctQ is in fact an Android device, and according to pics on phandroid.com, it sports the Sprint logo on the housing.

Also, if you’ve been following the Android politics, there are now two versions of the OS: One with Google branded services, and another without (such as the HTC Hero, which uses its own Sense UI instead of the Google one). The instinctQ appears to be a Google branded version, but a new rumor has surfaced that Sprint will also be getting a version of the HTC Hero, so it appears Sprint users will now have their choice of the Google branded apps or the critically acclaimed sense UI. Nice.

The real question that remains to be answered, however, is whether or not this will require the “Everything plan” to activate… The previous Instinct devices and the Palm Pre have already alienated grandfathered customers by forcing them to ditch their old plans for newer, more expensive ones if they want in.
The title “Instinct” implies that it will follow suit with the others in that brand, but there is a chance this one will be different.
Why?
The Palm Pre as well as the original Instinct and S30 have operating systems exclusive to Sprint. Like AT&T with their exclusive iPhone, users are more interested in the device than the service plan, so they can make whatever requirements they need to and people will still buy it. Android, however, isn’t exclusive. If someone were willing to switch their plan for an Android device, chances are they would have already jumped ship to T-mobile.
I sincerely hope for Sprint’s sake they don’t force those requirements on this phone… they need to keep subscribers more than ever.

Personally, I’m just excited to see a screenshot of the interface that has an EVDO icon already…
That means that it is finally happening!
Here’s to hoping that Android is available on all US carriers before the next quarter…

Honestly, ever since I saw Sprint on the Open Handset Alliance announced by Google, I had a feeling that they’d be the first with an Android powered handset. Sprint and T-mobile were the first 2 carriers I saw on the Alliance, and of the two, I figured Sprint has the best track record of getting new HTC phones first.

I’m glad T-Mobile got the G1 first, because in all honesty T-Mobile could use some limelight lately. But imagine the irony when I stumbled upon the following information, courtesy of Reuters:

Apparently, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse doesn’t think Android in its current form is ”good enough to put the Sprint brand on it.”

Really? I mean, come on, you’re kidding, right?
Sprint is too good for Android?!

Look at the devices Sprint HAS put their name on… the Sprint Mogul had a bluetooth bug and advertised features that weren’t available at launch (EVDO Rev A and GPS), yet released it as is. The Moto Q is generally considered the buggiest smartphone released by a major carrier, yet Sprint had no problem putting their name on that… but Android, who early adopters are absolutely loving so far, is too good for you?

Boggles the mind. Anyone else think there’s more to this?